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Do You Need Carpet Tubes?

We regularly receive requests from people who want carpet tubes. Carpet tubes have many uses, including:

We recycle them ourselves for rolling carpets on. (But we still end up with more than we need.)

Craft projects.

Cat scratching posts.

Cut into sections for storage bins.

Etc.

We are happy to accommodate these requests. It is better for everyone to recycle and reuse rather than send stuff to landfills. Incidentally, carpet tubes are made of paper fiber that has already been recycled several times. When the paper fiber gets old (and the fibers short), the paper fiber can no longer reasonably be made into quality paper, so it is made into carpet tubes. Carpet tubes are about the last use that paper fiber gets, even after corrugated cardboard. So we already have a very recycled product! But we are happy to see it get one more use.

When requesting carpet tubes, please keep the following in mind.

We provide them FREE of charge. Therefore, if you come in when we are busy, please wait patiently while we service our paying customers. We will get to your request as soon as we can, and it is rare anyone needs to wait long.

Carpet tubes come 12′ long. Be prepared to come with a vehicle that can handle a tube this long. Sorry, but we do not provide a tube cutting service.

Tubes sometimes have staples on the ends. Please be aware of this so you don’t cut yourself. Also, staples should be removed before giving them to children for craft projects.

No, we do not ship carpet tubes. We are happy to help people who come visit us, but it is not environmentally sound to ship carpet tubes. If you are outside our service area, check with a local carpet store. Most will be happy to help.

We can almost always accommodate requests for a couple carpet tubes. No call is necessary. Just come in. If you are hoping to get a lot of carpet tubes, a call ahead would be a good idea just to be sure we can accommodate your request.

Carpet tubes come up to 15′ long (as some carpets come from 15′ wide rolls). I suppose two tubes could be joined, but I’m a bit concerned about how to do that. I don’t think I could advise you on that project.

What I DO suggest is: There must be companies that ship movie screens. I would contact such a company and they are likely to be able to advise you how they ship such screens safely and without damage.

Carpet tubes come about 4″ in diameter. We do not have wider tubes. The same type of tube does come bigger, and people have called them Sono or Sonoco tubes (or sometimes mistaking Sono tubes as Sauna tubes). Building supply stores often have these tubes. They are commonly used to pour concrete footings. We also use them, but stacked horizontally on shelves and put rugs in them so client orders are easy to store and retrieve. Otherwise, the rug on the bottom could take a long time to get out!

The tubes we purchased for storing rugs are bigger than what you are hoping for, but other sizes may be available. I would check with a local building supply store to see if they can provide the sizes you are hoping for.

I noticed in one of the questions you answered that you do have larger diameter tubes that you store carpets in. I am part of a Non profit theater group production of Peter Pan at the Rogers Center at Merrimac College and we need two large diameter tubes to make trees for our Neverland set. Would it be possible to get a couple of the larger diameter tubes?

Hi Jerry. Sorry, but we had to buy our large diameter tubes since carpets do not come on them. They are called Sonoco tubes, and you can get them at a building supply place. We DO have tubes for free that come about 4″ in diameter, if that works for you. Ironically, we’re a bit short at the moment, but should be able to come up with a couple or few tubes for you if you need them.

Caleb, how many tubes do you need? If it’s just a few, you can pick them up anytime. Keep in mind that tubes are 12′ long, so one tube will do a lot of craft projects. If you need a lot of tubes, give us a call, and we will accumulate tubes for you. Thank you.

We need some large carpet tubes for making a log cabin for VBS. Do you still have some to spare? We would really really appreciate it. Thank you!!!! (Personal contact information removed by moderator).

I am interested in swinging by to pick up a couple of carpet tubes. I am interested in cutting them into 14″ lengths and then stacking 20 of them in columns to be used as classroom “cubbies” to store the student’s work. My question is: do you know of a place where I could take the tubes and pay to have them cut?
Thanks so much!

Hi Deanne, I do not know of a “place” for tubes to be cut. A handyman is your best bet. Does the school have a maintenance person that could do this for you? I’d start there.

One thing I will caution: Tubes cut with a regular hand saw. However, it is very easy to cut your thumb on your non-saw hand because of the round shape of the tubes. We have had two workers cut themselves this way, so we no longer cut tubes. We crush them, squish them, tear them, but we no longer cut them. If someone is cutting them, warn them to watch their thumb, and I would also suggest using cut resistant gloves.

Thanks so much for your quick reply, Lee! I’ll check with our maintenance guys and see what they think. I’ll get back to you if they tell me they can do the cutting. And thanks for the warning! ~ Deanne

I am trying to build a log cabin for a fire dept Christmas open house for our community. I am needing a lot. I believe the cabin is sides are 2-3 feet and the front is between 7-8 feet, minus the windows and door. How can you help me?

Hello Lee, what a great service you are providing to the community. I am on a committee that is decorating a hall for a masquerade ball in october. This is a major fund raiser for a winter homeless shelter in our area. I shudder to say that I need 60 tubes. I am in NH and can travel for pick up.

We are located in Massachusetts. There should be a carpet store in Central PA that can help you out. Call some independent carpet stores (not chains). If you are really stuck, you can buy Sonotubes at a home center. These are used for pouring concrete footings. Although, they come wider than carpet tubes (about 8″ diameter or larger) and shorter than carpet tubes (usually 4′), they might help you out in a pinch. Good luck.

I am looking for suggestion for columns for a Greece themed Sweet 16 party that originally was to be a Quinceanera (Sweet 15) but was changed to a Sweet 16 to donate the money to families in PR due to the damage caused by hurricane Maria. These columns need to be between 6-8 feet tall and 1-2 feet wide. I have read your previous tips and you mentioned sono tubes, however, I have not had any luck finding the sizes I need. Do they come in the sizes I mentioned above? Need for November 10, 2018.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
Eva
Holyoke, MAevacruz48south@gmail.com